R.I.P.: Jeanette Berg
WINONA, Minn. – Jeanette A. Berg, 79, of Winona, a cook man yyears with Mr. T’s, Happy Chef, and Country Kitchen, died at the Gundersen hospital in LaCrosse from a respiratory disease. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and an usher at St. Stanislaus basilica. Ashe enjoyed crocheting, gardening, and bowling.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1944-2022
R.I.P.: Simon Prondschinske Jr.
FOUNTAIN CITY, iIs. – Simon Pronschinske, Jr., 55, of Fountain City, who was self-employed in construction, died at home. Most recently he worked with Bi-State Construction and built large-scale poultry barns. He was a Fountain City volunteer firefighter and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He grew up in Waumandee.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1967-2023
Eyota search yields huge indoor drug supply
EYOTA, Minn. – Drug agents broke down the door of an Eyota trailer house and found what their search warrant said they were looking for – a massive drug enterprise. In the place agents reported finding:
> 1,158 grams of psilocybin mushrooms.
> 186.1 grams of marijuana.
> Seven amphetamine-dextroamphetamine pills.
> $2,000 cash.
> Packaging materials of the sort used in illicit drug retailing.
> Seven firearms and ammunition.
The search warrant identified Andrew Krukow, 45, as running the enterprise. When agents arrived for the search at the trailer curt in the 30 block of Park Drive Northwest. they knocked but no one answered. When they detected no activity, they breached the door.
Divers into Lake Huron for balloon wreckage
CHEBOYGAN, Mich. –The U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard together have embarked on a lake-bottom search of Lake Huron for wreckage of a balloon that was shot out of the sky by a Minnesota Air National Guard warplane. The balloon was punctured by a missile fired from the Minnesota plane at 20,000 feet. In Washington the Pentagon said it doesn’t know who launched the balloon or its mission, but like other recent balloon shoot-downs, it had been in the vicinity of major defense installations. The Michigan Peninsula. for example, has several U.S. Air Force radar stations designed to detect a polar attack over Canada. Also, Michigan is home to many defense industry manufacturers.
Earlier: Walz: Balloon shoot-down “flawless”
Recent shoot-downs
> February 4: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, offshore in Atlantic Ocean.
> February 10: Deadhorse, Alaska, on Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean.
> February 11: Old Crow Flats, Yukon Territory, in a remote interior area about 50 miles from the Alaska border.
> February 12 :Cheboygan, Michigan, in Lake Huron off the Upper Peninsula..
Nothing left after rural garage blaze
ROCHESTER, Minn. – A triple-stall detached garage was destroyed at a rural huse and so were a recreational vehicle and another vehicle inside. Firefighters saved the house. Everyone inside escaped safely, firefighters said. The fire was about 10 a.m. in the 4100 block of Maple Court Southeast. The garage was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Charred frame remains. Cause of fire not determined immediately. Image: Rochester Fire Department
New publisher at Minneapolis Star Tribune
MNNEAPOLIS – The state jobs commissioner, Steve Grove, has been named publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Grove’s appointment marked a major management shift by Glen Taylor, the Mankato magazine printing magnate who bought the newspaper in 2014. Grove’s job will be to “drive digital subscriptions and increase advertising,” Taylor said. The Star Tribune, like many newspaper companies, has been losing subscribers to broadcast and online competitors — although with a circulation of 242,000 daily and 351,00 Sundays, it still dominates regional journalism; Grove, 45, has led the state Department of Employment and Economic Development under Governor Tim Walz since 2019. Earlier he was an executive at Google, where he founded Google’s News Lab.
Verbatim
Grove: The people and businesses I’ve worked with in my time as commissioner give me great confidence in the future of Minnesota. Minnesota’s economy is rich with a nationally renowned workforce and an entrepreneurial business community that has brought so much opportunity to our state.”
Grove. Ex-Google exec now at Strib’s helm. Assignment: Fund digital path to future.
Grove profile
Steve Grove grew up in Northfield. His first job was for his parents’ landscaping business. He holds a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Claremont McKenna College and a master’s in public policy from Harvard. He was a journalist at his hometown Northfield News and later at the Boston Globe and ABC News. He built YouTube’s news and politics team, launching the first partnership programs for news organizations, nonprofits, and political candidates. For 12 years he was an executive at Alphabet’s Google and created the Google News Lab for innovation in the news industry. Grove also led Google’s civic engagement work, including the company’s nonpartisan voter information and get-out-the-vote efforts. He and wife Mary co-founded a nonprofit in 2014 called Silicon North Stars to help youth from underserved communities in Minnesota to pursue technology careers. During his four years as state economic development director under Governor Tim Walz, he quadrupled grants to black-owned and indigenous-owned businesses. He also designed a goal-setting system to drives the agency’s equity metrics.
Golf club cracks man’s skull; woman accused
ALBERT LEA, Minn. – An Albert Lea woman was advised in court of multiple charges for the whacking of a man with a golf club during a weekend fracas. Charged was Alexis Mae Truesdell, 18. The charges: Assault with substantial bodily harm and armed rioting with a dangerous weapon. Police were called to an outdoor gathering place, the so-called North Lot, about 5:30 p.m., Sunday. They found the man on his back, his skull fractured and his head covered in blood. At the hospital, the man told police he had gone to the lot with friends and brought a golf club because Truesdell had acted threatening. Her side of the story, according to court documents: The man was swingng the golf club around and she grabbed it. Then, she conceded to police, she “bashed him over the head with it a little too hard.” The man said everything went white and he couldn’t hear a thing.
R.I.P.: Ione Kessler
LEWISTON, Minn. – Ione A.M. Kessler, 95, of Lewiston, who worked at Camera Art in Lewiston for 15 years, died at the Gundersen hospital in La Crosse. She also worked at Express-A-Button in Nodine for 10 years. She attended St. John’s Grade School and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1945. She was a member of the Senior Center in St. Charles.
1927-2023
Walz budget: $4.8 million for WSU classroom design
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A pair of new classroom buildings that Winona State University wants to build has made the governor’s cut. The state construction budget that Governor Tim Walz recommended to the Legislature includes $4.8 million for further design work. The 73,000-suqare foot buildings would replace the 1960s vintage Gildemeister and Watkins buildings. An overhead traverse connecting the structures over King Street would create a visual west gateway to the campus. The structure would require $53 million to build and could be completed by 2026 if further state funding proceeds in schedule, planners said.
They call it CECIL. In fancy academic talk that’s short for Center for Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Engagement & Learning. What a mouth full. And it doesn’t easily tipple off the tongue. Yuck. Such an attractive structure deserves better.
Walz: Balloon shoot-down “flawless”
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz praised the Minnesota Air Guard for shooting down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron. The planes that pursued the object were based n Duluth but took off from Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin, for the mission, Walz said. “The Bulldogs executed their mission flawlessly, protected the homeland, and got the birds home safe,” the governor said. “This was a federal mission, and our federal partners will share information as it’s available.”
Butts plonked on barstools for Super Bowl kick-off
Brisk early beer trade
ELBA, Minn. — The Fairwater side street between Tony’s Saloon and Mauer Brothers Tavern in the Whitewater River hamlet of Elba was filling by mid-afternoon ahead of the big kick-off. A good many beers later, Super Bowl LVII was over: The Chiefs over the Eagles 38-35. Advertisers paid $6 million to $7 million for every 30-second spot to reach 99 million sets of eyeballs, including a few dozen in Elba.
Tower idle. On this winter day nobody had climbed the 100-foot bluff-top Elba Fire Tower lookout.
Image: Steve Lunde
Minnesota F-16 downs latest mystery balloon
148th’s Fighting Falcon. The newest and most capable F-16 in the U.S. Air Force. General Dynamics has built 4,600 Falcons since 1973, many for other nations. F-16s can fly 1,300 mph as high as 58,000 feet.
Balloon pierced 20,000 feet over Lake Huron
CHEBOYGAN, Mich. –A Minnesota Air National Guard pilot shot down the latest balloon to be found unauthorized in U.S. air space. The balloon was east of Mackinac Island off the south coast of the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The pilot, whose name was not released by the Pentagon, fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder, a standard air-to-air missile in the U.S. arsenal, to bring down the balloon. This was about 2:30 p.m. The balloon had been detected over Montana the day before and was being tailed the next 1,200 miles by aircraft from the 148th Fighter Wing based in Duluth and other aircraft. The balloon had been mostly at 20,000 feet. The Pentagon waited to shoot down the balloon until it was over water to avoid collateral ground damage. The Pentagon did not provide an exact location of the takedown down, but Lake Huron averages 200 feet deep. The balloon was headed across the lake to Ontario. The international border is mid-lake 50 mikes from Cheboygan. The shootdown was authorized by President Biden in conjunction with Prime Minister Trudeau.
Earlier: How they voted: Chinese spy balloon
A weather balloon?
The Pentagon’s early guess was that the balloon had been on a meteorological missing – not like the espionage of a Chinese balloon brought down a week earlier from 60,000 feet. This latest object, the fourth shot down in a week, was considered an aviation hazard. Most air traffic is below 32,000 feet. The balloon was described as octagonal with straps hanging from its underbelly. The Pentagon said the balloon’s launch site not been established nor had the owner come forward.
Changing filters
The Pentagon has acknowledged that it may have missed all kinds of weather and other balloons for years. Its radar system through the joint U.S-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command, based in Colorado, was designed to detect high-speed missile and aircraft invasions. Now, the Pentagon said, filters in the NORAD detection systems been adjusted to pick up slow-moving unidentified objects like balloons, benign or otherwise.
Red Wing focus for Southeast College recruiting
RED WING, Minn. – The Minnesota College Southeast has a new title on the staff — promise navigator. The job is recruiting. Dian Jacobson has been named to the position to help Red Wing area high school students apply for the college’s new Promise initiative funded by the Jones Family Foundation. The Promise program cover tuition and fees plus $500 to $1,000 towards the books and materials. As Promise navigator, Jacobson will provide individualized coaching.
Jacobson. Proficient in Spanish. Holds a master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a a bachelor’s in Spanish education from UW-Eau Claire.
WSU dance studio to bear Cohenour’s name
WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State University dance studio will be christened in the name of Gretchen Cohenour who taught dacce for 33 years. The day-long celebration begins at 1:15 p.m., Saturday, in Business Engagement Center in Somsen Hall. The growth of the university’s dance program has been credited o Cohenour’s integration of somatic practices, art making, interdisciplinary collaboration, meditation, yoga, and embodied movement research.
Cohenour. Retired dance prof since 2021.
Car rams lamp post, snaps it off base
WINONA, Minn. – It happened right before a sheriff’s deputy’s eyes: A motorist drove into a lamp post at Sanborn and Center streets and snapped it off. This was about 2:55 a.m. Codie Alexander Meinen, 22, of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, initially refused a blood-alcohol test. Later at the police station a test found less than 0.08% blood-alcohol, which is less than the threshold for drunkenness. Meinen was was released to a sober adult to drive him home while police pondered whether to file a damage to property complaint.
Week’s summary: Ending February 11, 2023
COLLEGES: Ethics complaints plague Winona college chief
GOVERNANCE: New state law: 2040 as zero-emission deadline
GOVERNANCE: Governor likes black-out charity plates
POLICING: A “Blue Wall of Silence” in Winona police ranks?
REMEMBRANCE: Durenberger legacy: Civility and engagement
REMEMBRANCE: R.I.P.: Roger Brosnahan
CRIME: Arrest for assault on Minnesota congresswoman
CRIME: $100,000 bail for man quelled only after three tasers
CRIME: Man: She slashed at me with butcher knife
CRIME: Bullet hole in County Road 12 house a mystery
AVIATION: Balloon sighted over St. Cloud: No, not Chinese
HISTORY: Lake Superior shipwreck mystery solved
POLITICS: Ex-Congressman Kind joins lobby firm
FIRE: Loading dock fire erupts at welding supplier
WINTER: Coming soon near you: A plow named Scoop
SPILT MILK: At Middle School: Not quite a food fight
Quick police work: Driver nabbed for hit-run
WITOKA, Minn. – With a description of a pickup truck and driver, police drove up East Burns Valley and turned off up Blackberry Creek. There they found the truck, complete with paint scrapes from a hit-ruyn-run accident less than an hour earlier at the Port 507 bar on Second Street in downtown Winna. So too they found a man matching witnesses’ description of the hit-and-run driver. They arrested Hunter Levi Richard Davison, 24. This was about 11:40 p.m. Davison blew 0.17% in a field blood-alcohol test –more than double what’s acceptable.
Davison. Of rural Winona Initial charge was drunken driving. More being considered.
College scores
Basketball (men): Winona State 72, Southwest Minnesota State 68
Basketball (men): UW-Oshkosh 91, UW-LaCrosse 88
Basketball (men): Saint John’s 90. Saint Mary’s 58
Basketball (women): Southwest Minnesota State 83, Winona State 61
Basketball (women): Saint Benedict 52, Saint Mary’s 41
Basketball (women): UW-LaCrosse 56, UW-Oshkosh 42
Hockey (men): St. Scholastica 4, Saint May’s 1
Hockey (women): Saint May’s 5, St. Scholastica 1
Tennis (men): Saint Mary’s 6, Dubuque 3
Tennis (women): Saint Mary’s 0, Dubuque 0
Minnesota prep
Hockey (boys): Winona Winhawks 6, Faribault Falcons 1
Hockey (girls): Kasson Dodge County Wildcats 9, Winona Winhawks 0
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (girls): Sparta Spartans 50, Onalaska Luther Knights 45
Hockey (girls): Kasson Dodge County Wildcats 5, Somerset Spartans 3
Yes, Stanley knows how to bay
LACROSSE, Wis. — As a blood hound he would love to wander, but life also is OK inside his fenced backyard on George Street.
Hard not to love. With those floppy ears, droopy eyes and drippy jowls, Stanley keeps alert over a fence. Image: Steve Lunde
Winona Health adds to urgent care staff
WINONA, Minn. — A physician assistant who grew in Mazeppa, Matt Baertlein, has joined Winona Health in urgent care at the main clinic. He earned a degree in biology and chemistry from Viterbo University and a master’s in medicine from the St. Scholastica. The focus of his studies was across the lifespan, medical specialties, and rural medicine..
Baertlein. A certified phsycian’s assistant.
Cops: Drunk but knew enough to pull off
WILSON, Minn. — A Caledonia man was charged with drunken driving after a state trooper found him parked on the shoulder of Interstate 90 between Wilson and Nodine. This was about 9:30 p.m. His flashers were blinking. Arrested was Gavin Ray Schroeder, 25. His blood-alcohol tested at 0.105%, which more than the legal definition of impairment.
R.I.P.: Lorraine Greenwood
WINONA, Minn. – Lorraine J. Greenwood, 97, of Winona, who worked many at Winona Knitting Mills. died at Lake Winona Manor. She was a graduate of Cathedral High School. She was a certified religion teacher. She was active with St. Stanislaus quilters and the funeral lunch committee. She was also a member of Harvest House, the Polish Heritage Society.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1925-2022
Democrats keep Martin as state chair
MOORHEAD, Mjnn. – The state Democratic chair for seven terms, Ken Martin, was re-elected by the party’s central committee. Martin led the party to a sweep of statewide offices in 2022, including the governorship and both bouses of the Legislature. During Martin’s tenure the patty has raised $182 million compared to the Republicans’ $59 million.
Martin. Also a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.
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